Ukip supporters have sent Thanet trending on Twitter after claiming Nigel Farage's election defeat was rigged.

The hashtag #thanetrigged was all over the social media network, with Ukip activists claiming the length of time it took to declare the results was proof of suspicious behaviour.

Today's Ukip victory in the local council election is further proof, they say, that the party had so much local support that Farage should have won in Thursday's vote.

However, cynics have pointed out that the long time it took to count the votes may have been due to the very high turnout of 70%.

Tonight Twitter was awash with those supporting the conspiracy theory .. and others using the same hashag to debunk it. A selection are below.